Despite setbacks, dairy still a dominant industry

SHAWNA KONIECZNY

REPORTER

Agriculture is such an important part of Wisconsin’s economy and way of life. According to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), agriculture in Wisconsin contributes $104.8 billion to the state’s economy annually.

The state is home to 64,793 farms that cover 14.3 million acres of the state’s land. In Taylor County, farmland amounts for 35% of the county’s land.

In recent years, Taylor County has seen a decline in total farms. The United States Department of Agriculture Census of Agriculture is done every five years with the last one being from 2017. According to the census, there has been a 7.1% loss in farms within the state. In the county specifically, there’s been a 5.4% decrease in the number of total farms.

Ryan Klussendorf, a member of the Taylor County Farm Bureau board, explained that farms have been consolidating. “Smaller ones are going out of business, some farms are getting together and having a larger operation or bringing other family members in,” said Klussendorf.

Klussendorf is also the director for District 8 on the state Farm Bureau board representing Taylor, Price, Lincoln, Clark, Marathon, Wood, and Portage Counties. The Farm Bureau works as an educational and lobbying organization, informing people of the benefits of agriculture making sure agriculture’s needs are being met politically.

Klussendorf was born and raised on a family farm and has been running his dairy farm in Medford since 2007 after he farmed in the Green Bay area for four years. He said that the farming lifestyle was a good way to raise a family and it also allows him to be his own boss and set his own schedule. “It is a viable occupation or career path to take, you just need to find the right people to help you and mentor you along the way to get you into the industry,” said Klussendorf.

While there are many benefits to farming, he also said that it can be challenging at times. “You deal with a lot of extremes. Either drought, extreme weather events, torrential rains, and things like that. And just the economic side of the business too. Markets have been fairly volatile lately,” said Klussendorf.

Joseph Tomandl III is the executive director of the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship, the first and only formal farming apprenticeship program in the nation. Tomandl grew up on a small farm in Medford and became a high school agriculture teacher and FFA advisor before buying his current farm located in Medford in 1988. He said that he tries to stay positive when it comes to the challenges he faces as a farmer, saying that it’s what he signed up for by becoming a farmer.

The Apprenticeship was founded in 2010 and has 199 registered dairy farms from 15 different states to pair apprentices with. The program works to give opportunities to new farmers by giving them hands-on experience while educating them to help them succeed in the industry. There are currently three apprentices in the program in central Wisconsin, one of them working on Tomandl’s own farm, which has grown from one farm to now being three farms. He explained that having multiple farms was better for grazing and also the land.

Tomandl said that farms need to grow in size in order to keep up with industry. Evidence of this trend can be seen in the changing number of farms versus the average size of farms. While the state has had a 7% loss in the number of farms, the average size of a Wisconsin farm is 221 acres, which is a 6% increase from 2021. Even in Taylor County, the average size in acres has grown by 13% over the course of five years.

Sandy Stuttgen, Taylor County Extension’s Agriculture Extension Educator, explained that the county now has more farms raising cattle for beef than there are dairy farms. The 2017 Census saw a 21.7% loss in dairy farms in Wisconsin where the number of beef farms grew 7% from 2012. “Dairy farm numbers fell drastically in 2019,” said Stuttgen. “That kind of leveled off with COVID. Some of the government financial support helped to slow down that exodus of farmers.”

Stuttgen explained that most farmers don’t want to ever retire so they’ll switch to raising beef or continue to grow crops instead of continuing with dairy farming. Since there aren’t enough new and young farmers taking over the industry, the average age of a farmer is going up and the number of dairy farms goes down.

New technologies within the industry have been making farming and production more efficient, but Klussendorf noted that all that technology comes with a price tag and most farmers don’t make enough to afford the new technology while keeping up with the farm they already have. He put an emphasis on the economic side of the industry, saying that understanding the markets and making sure people are getting paid enough for their products is the most difficult challenge he’s seen as a farmer.

While the number of farms have been decreasing, Stuttgen noted that the industry is increasing in diversity. “Farming has become very diverse now. It’s not just the typical dairies or farms that you see as you drive by, but we’re getting more and more small farms,” said Stuttgen. “You can’t just paint one picture. That’s the best thing about agriculture and farming, there’s no one way to do it.”

There are a variety of opportunities within agriculture that goes beyond the typical farm people think of. Even with the popular dairy and beef farms, there’s a lot of parts that make a farm operate, and all those sectors are important to the production of goods. “The world has to eat. There’s always going to be a demand for food,” said Stuttgen.

Stuttgen explained that she’s noticed that a lot of older farmers that have farmed their whole life are encouraging their children to leave home and consequently farming, so there’s less generational farming happening now. Klussendorf noted a similar trend. “Their parents or whoever was farming told them ‘no, you’re not going to do this, we’re not going to give it to you because it was so hard for us. We don’t want to see you struggle with it and have to deal with it,’ so they don’t even get the opportunity to try or do it if they want to.”

Stuttgen said that while she does get questions about how to start farming, the interest in farming isn’t the same as it once was. She noted that many high schools tend to drop their agriculture department, or they merge with the general science department, and therefore, less and less high school graduates want to farm. “College enrollment in agriculture is down as well,” said Stuttgen.

Klussendorf asked for support from community members who purchase and consume products to support farmers and those in agriculture. “The way the industry is trending, that it’s consolidating and merging, that when these farms get so big, who is going to take these over in the long run?” He expressed the importance of supporting local farms as they play a big role in the local economy. Tomandl also emphasized the importance of support services within the agriculture industry. “Agriculture and land use really drives and has the opportunity to drive a lot of local economies, especially up in this area,” said Tomandl.

Tomandl encourages people who want to be involved in farming to never give up. While the cost of everything increases, so do the number of challenges people face. Like in any other industry, Tomandl said, people need to keep moving forward and create their own opportunities, even if it means thinking outside the box.

When looking at the future of farming in Wisconsin and Taylor County, it’s important to remember how necessary the agriculture industry is and that there’s a need for more farmers to continue to provide food for everyone. “Big farms are going to stay big or get bigger, and small farms are going to be filling niche, diverse, localtype markets,” said Stuttgen. “The biggest thing is how we all play together and handle our land, soil, and water resources together so we can support each other without one wiping out the other.”

Joe Tomandl III